MUSCATINE, Iowa–Authors of the five winning poems of the Wandering Words Sidewalk Poetry Competition were recognized at the Second Sunday Summer Concert on Sunday, June 11. The Mad Creek Mudcats, a versatile jazz and ragtime band, opened the summer concert series at Musser Public Library, 408 East Second Street in Muscatine. Paul Thielmann read each winning entry and the poems that received honorable mentions to a large and appreciative audience in between musical sets.

In April, the Muscatine County Arts Council launched its eighth annual poetry contest for National Poetry Month. It received a record number of 41 entries from 30 individual poets. All poems were judged by Janet Bunn, who taught English for 34 years at Central Middle School and Muscatine High School. The five winning entries were penned by Carol J. Anthony, Pam Cantrell, Daniel G. Clark, Juan Fourneau, and Cerinity Stover and Noah Leza, a team of middle school students at Saints Mary and Mathias Catholic School. The five poems selected to receive honorable mentions were written by Duffy DeFrance, Tiffany Knox, Misty Urban, Rebecca Whitmore, and middle school duo Dravin Baldwin and Alec Gonzalez.

Each winner of the Wandering Words poetry contest received a cash prize. The poems will be engraved on sidewalks around Muscatine by Jeff Hargrave of J & D Stones. The location of this year’s winning poems has yet to be determined. The Arts Council will create a searchable online map and directory of all poems etched in concrete throughout the city.

Here are the Wandering Words Sidewalk Poetry Winners:

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